Watch The Decline: The Media Lowlights Of 2009

Climate “scientists” are about as trusted as used-car salesmen or congressmen these days thanks to the beating their profession has taken in the “ClimateGate” scandal. But give the alarmists their due: They know how to hide the decline.

Their friends in the media, on the other hand, are not quite so skilled at chicanery. The press practices plenty of sniper journalism, the kind that kills unaware readers and viewers from afar. But journalists attack in the open often enough that Americans can watch the decline of the Fourth Estate in all of its embarrassing glory.

Advertisement - story continues below

They had a lot to watch in 2009 — a year marked by the media’s anointed leader moving into the White House, liberals ascending to one-party control of Washington and, to hear journalists report it, an angry mob of dangerous extremists daring to reject the hope-and-change narrative.

There were so many media lowlights that it’s a challenge to pick the best of the worst for a year-end recap, but here goes: